


The First Day is Never Easy

by cauldronofdoom



Series: mob-verse [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-29
Updated: 2012-06-29
Packaged: 2017-11-08 20:06:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cauldronofdoom/pseuds/cauldronofdoom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tony was either going to go over brilliantly, or get himself strangled before reaching the 24 hour mark."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Day is Never Easy

“So… Do you have a dungeon?”

“Do I have a… Tony, why on earth would I have a dungeon?”

“I dunno, to keep prisoners in? Torture chamber? Kinky prop?”

“Kinky prop… No, you know what, I don’t even want to know what’s running through your mind. No, I don’t have a dungeon. I don’t really hold with torture. If I want someone dead, I kill them. Holding people is more trouble than it’s worth.” Steve shook his head as he continued guiding Tony down the street. He’d given the shorter man a hoodie that it was just a little to warm for, and that he knew looked ridiculous next to his suit, but it hid the tie covering his eyes. He didn’t think Tony was angling to betray him, but that didn’t mean he had to let his guard down.

“Oh, come on!” Tony whined, and Steve smirked. He wasn’t used to people that would actually interact with him anymore. It was good at the top, but occasionally it did get a little lonely. “I’m sure I could get you very interested in my thoughts on a kinky dungeon…” Steve was sure that the grin and voice were supposed to be accompanied by an eyebrow wiggle. He was kind of glad he could see it. The tips of his ears were turning pink as it was. 

“Shush!” He commanded, giving his newest employee a good shake to emphasize. “You are being distracting and loud, both of which are very bad ideas right now.” It had taken training, but he could use what his people called his ‘battlefield voice’ in barely over a whisper. It had only half the usual effect on Tony, who merely pouted and mumbled to himself.

Steve grinned. Tony was either going to go over brilliantly, or get himself strangled before reaching the 24 hour mark.   
*  
Romanov blinked, but didn’t say anything. Barton, however, didn’t have her self-preservation instincts. “Captain, I thought you were going to go threaten an engineer, not pick up a pet.”

Tony, understandably, bristled at that. “He picked up an engineer, not a pet! And he wouldn’t have had to go find someone like me if you knew how to do more than look up porn on that machine over there!”

Thor boomed out a laugh, and Barton gave the newcomer a mocking salute. “Balls like that aren’t always a good thing. You can get them caught all sorts of uncomfortable places, Rhodes.”

Tony’s face went blank, the anger leaving in an instant. He grinned at Barton, but it was a jerky, fake thing. “Stark, actually. Tony Stark. These,” He gestured at the tags visible through his still-unbuttoned shirt, “Belonged to a friend. Good eye, though.”

Barton nodded, his face thoughtful. “I see. And remember it, Stark. They’ll be trained on you, and I never miss.”

Tony just shrugged. “Even if you do, I highly doubt everyone will. Don’t worry, I value my skin more than that.”

Romanov gave a sharp nod then, indicating she’d accepted him in a probationary way. That was all it took for the others to fall in. Steve gave her a sharp grin, and she grabbed Tony’s arm to pull him to the terminal. She knew what he needed, so he turned to the others. “Turn in. Day shift’s turn, and I’ll need you to be sharp for tonight. Hydra’s getting upitty, so I think it’s about time to teach them who’s in charge here. “

Bloodthirsty grins were his only answer, but he didn’t really expect anything else. They had work to do.  
*  
“So you’re terrifying and rather silent. You gonna tell me what I’m supposed to be doing, or should I just play solitaire all day.” Tony grinned up at the unnerving redhead that was apparently his keeper for the moment. 

“Connections between Stane and Hydra.” She replied, her glare reaching almost epic proportions at having to say it out loud.

“Fine, fine, don’t have a hissy… Ugh, you guys are running Vista? That is… honestly all I need to know about your lack of computer skills. This is awful! Remind me to fix this later, yeah? Anyway, be a doll and grab me some coffee?”  
*  
Steve rolled out of bed mid-afternoon, did his usual check-in, and then retreated to the gym for his daily workout. That being said, it was a good twelve hours before he saw Tony again.

Tony, who was still at the computer terminal (which sort of looked like it had been blown up), surrounded by coffee cups, and chattering at breakneck speed with Banner.

“… So really, it’s vitally important that we do this, and…”

“Captain!” Banner exclaimed, looking happier to see Steve than he ever did.

“Any trouble?” He asked, ignoring Tony’s cheerful grin and greeting for the moment. 

Banner shook his head, the frowned. “He did pull apart his old cell phone and the broken blender, but we’ve got almost twice the processing speed.”

Tony hummed, still typing away. “Most of that is the new OS I installed for you. Windows can’t do half of what I’m going to need this to handle if I need to do things like break into corporate websites and such. I’d like to cover my trail before the police start sniffing around, thank you very much. Oh, that reminds me: You need to pick up an external hard drive. Should something happen, the computer’s too bulky to take away in a hurry. Plus people can’t hack things that aren’t connected to a network. Incredibly basic, but more effective than any number of firewalls and encryptions.” Banner grinned and gestured to their newest member in something approximating fond exasperation. Steve felt something twist in his gut, but it was soothed by the way Tony turned to him with a gleeful expression.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, thinking Tony was likely to provide more than his fair share of headaches even if he was helping. “Banner, go get him one, will you? You’re most likely to know what he wants.”

Banner nodded and left, so Steve took his seat next to Tony. “As much as I appreciate your tech support, I had other plans. Stane…”

“Oh!” Tony exclaimed, cutting him off and still grinning almost manically. He reached beside him for a sheaf of papers, shoving them at Steve. “That was no trouble. He’s totally in Hydra’s pocket. I’ve highlighted the appropriate transactions. Well, Coulson did. He’s really good at the paperwork and such, is he your forger? Anyway, I dictated where to look for the first few, but he caught the pattern real quick, so I left him to it and followed the money trail down the ladder. This,” He pulled out a single sheet with a post it hanging out to make it obvious, “Is my best on who’s in on it, both the ones who know, like Stane, and the incidentals, like me. Also, he’s been pretty diligent in deleting any communication, but the company doesn’t clean out their recycle bin near enough, and I salvaged a few e-mails. Plus I left a feeler in there that will copy any new suspicious messages and send them to a dummy account hosted on their own server that we can remote-access.” He paused to take a breath, and Steve shut him up with a look.

“Did you sleep at all?”

“… No? I wanted to get Stane sorted out before he got a chance to cover his tracks, and then I got frustrated with your machine, and then I was busy with the OS, and then… yeah. It happens. You get in the zone, and the next thing you know it’s the middle of the night and the janitor’s telling you you need to leave now…” Steve cut him off with a hand to his shoulder.

“Understandable, and admirable, but no one’s going to look after you if you work yourself to exhaustion. You’ve been here for twelve hours, and only had coffee. You need to eat, and possibly sleep.” Tony looked vaguely sheepish, but Steve ignored it. Instead, he pulled the other man to his feet and towards the kitchen. He was feeling like a snack himself, so he sat Tony down with a bowl of cereal and got himself a bagel. Tony, of course, took the chance to grab himself another cup of coffee.

“What?” Tony asked, noticing Steve’s evil eye over the beverage. “I don’t want to get to much blood in my coffee stream, you know.” He tossed Steve a wink, which he ignored.

“I don’t like it when my people overuse stimulants. It slows reactions.”

Tony raised his eyebrows and took a deliberate gulp of his drink. “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t hire me for my reaction time, then.”

Steve felt himself starting to grin at that. That Tony could still be so irreverent after how this day had gone was impressive. Tony flashed him another grin. “There you go, Blondie, laugh. I knew I could get a smile eventually.”

Steve shook his head. “You’re a brat. And don’t call me ‘Blondie’.”

Tony shrugged. “Fine, but you’ll have to give me something else to call you then. Or I can just keep coming up with more and more ridiculous names every time I need to talk to you. I never did get a name.”

Steve blinked, suddenly recalling that Tony was absolutely correct, he hadn’t ever given his name. That just made coming with him all the braver. “Steve Rogers, but around here I’m known as Captain.”

“Cap it is, then.”

“… Captain.”

“Yeah, sure… Hey, d’you want me to call you that in bed, too?”

Steve almost choked on the bite he’d just taken from his bagel. “STARK!”

“Uhgh, Tony, please. Or Technogod, that’ll work too.”

Steve ran his hand over his face in exasperation. “What am I going to do with you?” 

“Buy me expensive toys, let me loose on your enemies’ online presence, and fuck me into the mattress, I hope. Why, did you have other ideas? I’m up for suggestions, you know.”

“Just… Just take your cereal and get back to work.”

“Sir, yes sir!”  
*  
“So, did you really sleep with Stark?”

Steve glared at his sniper. “Barton, do you really think you should ask questions like that?”

“Probably not, but since when has that ever stopped me before?” The sniper grinned at his boss. “You may be subtle, but he certainly isn’t. That being said, I think we need an answer, and I’m the only one both ballsy and interested enough to ask: Are, and or did, you sleep with Stark, and, if so, is it exclusive? Because I’ve gotta tell you, he’s a good looking guy, and eventually someone’s going to proposition him, unless they’re told not to bother. So, yes or no?”

Steve glared at one of the few mobsters he considered a personal friend, but couldn’t refute that he had a good point. “Yes, I did. Yes, I think we’ll be reprising that sometime, and I shouldn’t even have to answer the last bit. You know how possessive I can be.”

Barton raised an eyebrow at that. “And is he just a possession, then?”

“He’s an asset. For now, at least.” Steve could only see the slight stiffening of the other man’s shoulders due to long exposure. He clapped a hand on his shoulder when he turned to leave. “Barton… Clint, you know what things are like in this lifestyle. I can’t trust him, and things are too busy for that sort of risk. Remember Peggy?”

Barton nodded, a shadow passing over his face at the mention of the cop who had so thoroughly managed to worm her way into Steve’s heart the previous year. Only the nosiness and subsequent self-sacrifice of his then-second and friend Bucky had prevented a total rout of the Howling Commandos. It was all he had to say for the archer to understand.  
*  
“Are you still up?”

“Hunh? Oh, Cap! Guess what I did! Well, actually, more uncovered than did, I really haven’t done anything, not like that message copier for SI…”

“Tony, just tell me. I don’t have time for your rambling.” Steve shoved the second half of the muffin he’d grabbed as a late-night snack at the somewhat possessed looking engineer with a stern glare. He doubted the man had eaten much either, and the ravenous way he attacked the treat seemed to back that supposition up.

“I followed my tap on Hydra’s financials to see who they’re working with, both the bribes and blackmails.” Tony said, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth. Steve just gaped at him. “What? I know you told me to work on security, but I needed something to do while my code was compiling.”

“So you just, what, hacked into a half dozen supposedly secure banking sites? How much free time did you have? And why would you immediately go after Hydra?”

“… Cap, you do remember why you grabbed me, right? Because I’m one of the best engineers, seniority totally disregarded, in a multinational company that’s currently a market leader in technology. I helped write the code for SI’s computer systems, and they’re some of the most secure in the world because of that. Where do you think the banks go for their online security, the Apple Store? If it was hacking into government databases, that would be different. They have their own technicians, and I don’t know how they do things. But to find the back doors and weak spots of things I designed? That’s child’s play.” Tony was giving him his full attention now, in a way he hadn’t before. It was almost enough to make Steve fidget. Tony seemed like he could see way too much. “You do realize that I burned every other bridge I had when I came with you, right? This isn’t a trial run for me. There’s no cooling off period, no three months probation, nada. If I’m not back at the office in,” He glanced at the clock on the computer swiftly, “About twenty-five hours, I’d have a better chance running away from you, and you greeted me with a gun. You didn’t so much back me into a corner as show me to a new one where I have a chance of striking back at the person who first cornered me. “

Steve saw no hint of falsehood in Tony, and he was second only to Natasha in detecting bullshit. However, he still wasn’t entirely sold, especially after Peggy. He’d have a few of the others look into Tony’s past. For now, “You need a shower, and you need to sleep. This’ll still be here in the morning, and I’d rather you not make any mistakes on systems with so many failsafes. Go.”

Tony’s careless grin was back. “I would, but I have no idea where I’m supposed to ‘go’. You do realize I’ve only seen this room, the kitchen, and the half-bath over there of this house, right?”

Steve shook his head, realizing he’d forgotten that as easily as the name thing. “Fine, then, follow me. Shower first, then I’ll show you to your dorm.” Him staying here would bring the total of permanent residents to ten, with a rotating roster of anywhere from six to eighteen in the upstairs rooms. Cage, Parker, and Logan also ‘owned’ houses in the city. Not having one central base helped keep them off the police radar.

“Dorms, hunh? Who will I be sharing with, or is that a secret too?” Tony asked as he hurried to keep up with Steve’s longer stride.

“You’ll be sharing with Barton, Banner, and Thor. Women’s dorms are across the hall, don’t mess it up. I assure you that Romanov, Hill, Danvers, and Drew would all not hesitate to mess you up if you do.” Steve led them quickly into the unfinished basement that housed the gym, and then into the hidden sub-basement that housed the dorms. Tony continued grinning cheekily, making Steve doubt he truly understood the seriousness of his new lifestyle. On the other hand, Tony was here to work on computers, not a field agent. The chances of him needing that demeanor were slim at best.   
*  
The showers were similar to the ones public pools have, just one big, open room with showerheads spaced along them. The only divider it had was right down the middle, separating the men’s side from the women’s. Tony whistled. “So it’s not just me that gets no privacy, hunh? Do you put ‘must have no body shame or modesty’ on your recruiting posters?”

“Tony, what makes you think we have recruiting posters?”

“Probably a good thing. You’d be overrun with punk kids that have a very skewed idea of what you do. They’d be all ‘hey, let’s go steal a car and ride it off into the sunset’, and then Romanov would kill them simply for bringing that level of stupid near her.”

Steve couldn’t help laughing at that. It was definitely something he could see the redhead doing.

“Watch it, Stark.” Came a voice from the other side, startling the engineer. “I still haven’t decided if you need to be Darwined out too.” Tony laughed, but Steve only refrained from snapping at her due to the faint trace of humour in her voice.

“Just try it.” Tony unwisely replied, turning on the spray of a random shower. “I’ll hide behind Cap. He’ll save me.”

Steve snorted at that, and Tony turned a woebegone expression on him, only the humour in his eyes proving that he’s not actually feeling hurt. “Cap! How could you? I make my big debut, you chase me down out of all the engineers due to my left-behind coding, then you bring me back here out of the reach of my nasty old boss, and now you tell me we don’t ride off in a pumpkin? You’re breaking my heart here, Cap, you and Disney.”

Steve couldn’t help laughing at that, just as another voice pipes up, “Jesus, who’s casting the Captain as Charming from Cinderella, and why haven’t I met him yet?” A blonde head appears over the divider as Danvers pokes her head over. Her eyebrows rose as she took Tony in. “Entertaining, pretty good as eye candy, and, from the scuttlebutt, intelligent and useful.” She raised her eyes to Steve and gave him a salute. “You sure know how to pick ‘em, sir. Hi, I’m Carol Danvers.” The last line and her outstretched hand were offered to Tony, who stepped forward to shake it as Steve turned back to his own shower. He ignored them chatting, even after retreating to their own sides of the room, focussing instead on getting himself clean. He was almost done when he felt hands sliding slowly down his back and around to his stomach.

“Don’t worry,” Tony purred in his ear, “You’re still my favourite.” The hands were drifting lower now, and Steve knew it was time to put a halt to this. Lack of privacy during showers was one thing, but he wasn’t interested in dealing with Danvers’ hidden glee the next day if he let Tony do this here.

“Not here.” He grit out, catching Tony’s wrists in a strong grasp. “Come on.”  
*  
Steve didn’t bother letting Tony get dressed. They hadn’t gotten him any new clothing yet, so someone (probably him) was going to have to lend their newest member some clothes. He just herded a towel-wrapped Tony out of the showers and down the hall to his room. 

Once inside, Tony didn’t hesitate to push the door closed and shove Steve against it. Despite outmatching him physically, Steve let him do it. He was curious as to where this would lead.

He had pulled on a t-shirt and sweats before leaving the other room, knowing from experience that he had to be at least somewhat presentable even straight out of bed. Tony just fisted his hands in the shirt and sucked a bruise into Steve’s collarbone, well below the collar of his usual dress shirts. 

Once it was satisfactory to Tony, the shorter man slunk to his knees, mouthing gently at the tent forming in his pants. Steve watched him, noticing that Tony had divested himself of his towel earlier and was now buck naked aside from the dog tags, kneeling before Steve, and gazing up at him almost coyly though his lashes. Steve shuddered at the sight, eyes going wide. 

Tony grinned then, raising his hands to pull Steve’s briefs and sweats down to mid-thigh, and started lapping at Steve’s dick. Just short little licks, but it was enough to tear a moan from Steve’s throat. Tony chuckled around the laps, and Steve could feel the puffs of breath wafting over cooling spit. “Tony!” He gasped, hands coming up to rest lightly against the dark head. Tony nuzzled into one of them, reminding Steve of nothing more than a cat, before turning back and swallowing Steve whole and … Oh God, Tony just swallowed him, what the fuck ohfuckfuckfucktighthotwetslick…

He pulled off, gagging slightly, and grinned up at Steve. “Sorry, normally I can do that. It appears my throat and ass are in agreement that you are massive…” Steve dropped to his own knees and shoved his tongue into Tony’s mouth, shutting him up. His hands wrapped around the smaller man, roughly groping at his ass. Steve felt Tony stiffen slightly, and his hands turned softer, massaging instead of clutching.

“Are you too sore for this?” He asked, breaking away from the kiss and drawing in a sharp breath.

Tony shook his head, arching closer and nipping at Steve’s jaw. “I’m good, I’m good, really, I want it, I do.” Steve kissed him again before pulling both of them up and tossing Tony onto his bed. The smaller man gave a short yelp before laughing, then writhed luxuriously on the coverings. Steve quickly shucked his clothes and slid over the smaller man. He pinned Tony to the bed, grinding their hips together and pulling a breathy moan from his partner.

“I believe you,” Steve murmured, his mouth right next to Tony’s ear, “But I’d still rather not risk it.” He grinned then, pulling back so Tony could see him. “Besides, I saw you yawning on the way to the shower. I wouldn’t want you falling asleep before the main event, after all.” Tony looked affronted, but Steve cut off any rebuttal with another harsh kiss. He sucked another mark on the slim neck, not happy that he couldn’t see his previous ones from the front, and snaked a hand between them. He caught both of them up in hand, slicked by Tony’s spit and their precome, and set a fast pace that had them both on the edge before long.

It was better, he decided, that he got to see Tony climax this time. He got to see how his eyes went wide, then rolled up and squeezed shut. He got to see how his mouth fell open on a shout that sounded a lot like “Cap.” He got to feel him harsh pants against his chest and the clenching of those fists on his shoulders.

He shuddered through his own orgasm after seeing that, rolling quickly to the side so as not to squash his partner. He felt a pang of loss that Tony, who had been clinging to his chest, didn’t have the muscle strength to come with him. They panted together, both staring at the ceiling, until Tony gathered himself enough to roll to sitting. “I think I should hit the showers again, then head to bed. You got some clothes I can borrow, or am I sleeping in the nude?”

Steve waved vaguely at the dresser next to him. “Everything’s my size, so just grab whatever. I’ll have Barton sort you out tomorrow.” Tony nodded, grabbing some sweatpants and leaving, and Steve frowned. 

Now why had he wanted to ask him to stay?  
*  
Tony was almost shaking as he walked back to the showers, but he tried not to let it show. He wasn’t new to the walk of shame, even if he’d never before done it so soon after his orgasm, so he knew how this went. Besides, he wasn’t really one for shame. In fact, he usually greeted people with huge smiles on these mornings to let them know beyond any doubt that he’d had great sex the night before. Hell, he didn’t even usually spend the whole night with his partner, programming and insomnia getting the best of him.

Still, he wasn’t used to being cheated of his afterglow. He couldn’t even feel that mad, as it was an annoyingly appropriate action, under the circumstances. Mr. You-May-Call-Me-Captain didn’t have the luxury, or time, for turning booty calls into fuck buddies. It would be favouritism to the extreme when he still called his closest by their last names, plus Captain Rogers didn’t have any reason to trust Tony, not really. He knew that.

Yet he still couldn’t help wishing he’d gotten to stay, even if only for a short time.


End file.
